Monday, April 4, 2011

Rare Earth: Molycorp Shares Hit an All-Time High on European Acquisition (MCP)

The stock is up 10.45% at $65.44. The prior high was achieved the day after we decided to short the stock (and picked up a triple). We are not looking to repeat that performance just yet.
From Reuters:

April 4 (Reuters) - Molycorp , the largest U.S. producer of rare-earth metals, bought a controlling stake in Estonia-based AS Silmet for about $89 million, in a move that will mark its foray into Europe and double its rare-earth oxide production capacity.

Western rare earth suppliers have been scrambling to boost production to plug a supply gap created last year when No. 1 producer China sharply cut its exports of the metals, used in products ranging from laptop computers to hybrid-electric cars.

After the deal, AS Silmet will source rare-earth feed from Molycorp's facility in California, becoming the first rare earth oxide and metal producer in Europe not dependent on China for raw materials. AS Silmet is one of the two rare earth processing facilities in Europe, producing up to 3,000 tonnes rare earth products and 700 tonnes of rare metal products annually....MORE

As the company was very tightly held we didn't post anything on it, here are a couple bookmarks from the link-vault:
Here's the company's history.
Here's some backround via the Estonian Trade and Investment Agency.
And a November, 2010 story from CNN via Baltic Business News